In 7 federal states – car crackers arrested after 57 coups

A real serial offender went to the Tyrolean Criminal Police Office (LKA). After numerous burglaries in motor vehicles were reported this summer, the LKA started the investigation. The suspected perpetrator was already officially known.

For the time being, the investigators assumed there were several perpetrators. In the course of the investigation, a 55-year-old Croat, who was already officially known, was identified as a suspected solo perpetrator.

Arrested in August
The accused does not have a permanent residence in Austria. A vehicle he was using was discovered in Innsbruck at the end of August. On the orders of the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office, he was arrested a short time later and taken to the Innsbruck prison. At that time, the investigators still assumed nine break-ins in parked vehicles in Tyrol.

Deeds across Austria
The creation and evaluation of movement profiles finally showed that the accused is said to have broken into 57 vehicles throughout Austria since June 2021. Exceptions were Vienna and Burgenland. In each of these break-ins, a side window was violently smashed and existing valuables, mainly cash, handbags, ATM cards or smartphones, were stolen. For the most part, the man hit the parking lots of cemeteries, bathing lakes or hiking areas.

High amount of damage
In his wild thefts, he stole cash worth around 11,000 euros, a large number of documents, cashless means of payment and smartphones. “In some cases, the handbags, money bags and documents were found near the crime scene,” the executive said. The broken windows caused damage in the lower five-digit euro range.

The preliminary investigation has now been taken over by the Leoben public prosecutor’s office. The criminal investigation is over. The accused did not confess during the police interrogation.

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